I’m pleased to announce the release of Opkey’s third annual State or ERP Report, a groundbreaking exploration of what’s moving the ERP testing space forward into 2024. My team worked hard to crack open what’s shaping ERP testing and pinpoint what testing strategies can help you have the most productive and efficient year yet.

We surveyed 500+ IT and business leaders about their ERP systems and testing practices, conducted research, and gathered insights from years of being on the front lines of test automation.

Let’s take a look at some of this year’s findings.

Overall, the ERP industry and the ERP testing industry both continue to grow robustly. Gartner projects that the global test automation market alone will expand at a CAGR of 19% until hitting $51 billion in 2030. More Cloud migrations and more ERP adoptions across the board mean more and better ERP testing is needed as we head into 2024.

How exactly are ERP testing trends changing? We are seeing buying cycles get longer, with leadership teams demanding proven ROI and more extensive POC before signing off on new purchasing decisions. 73% of respondents agreed that “ease and speed of onboarding are a top priority when evaluating and/or purchasing a new testing tool.” This wasn’t a surprise to me, as I’ve seen in conversations with clients that the pressure is on to prove new services can save time and money without adding unnecessary burden to an org.

Along with longer SaaS buying cycles, our report found that industry-specific ERP testing solutions are rising up to cater to a new wave of industry-specific ERPs. These ERPs include Oracle Health for healthcare, Syspro for food & beverage, and Epicor ERP for distribution. 84% of respondents said that they consider industry compliance requirements when making a new SaaS purchase.

“The mess” continues. Last year, I coined the term “SaaS mess” to refer to the complexity of highly interconnected and hybridized systems. This year, the survey and research confirmed that this is still the case, with even an increase in complexity across tech stacks. 85% of people we talked to are using more SaaS apps than last year, and testing continues to evolve to keep up. Robust end-to-end testing is the solution, something I’ve always personally championed as the most logical response to a messy environment.

But I don’t want to give away the whole report here. Download it to learn more about how AI fits into your daily testing needs and what you can do to ensure your testing protocols move ahead with the times.

I look forward to another year of Opkey leading the way into the brightest future we can make.